Liberty, Desert Pines adapt to changes

Losing a star player always leaves a hole for a basketball team.

And as the boys teams at Liberty and Desert Pines have found out, you must replace more than just points and rebounds. A new blend of players also must adapt to new roles.

That left the Patriots and Jaguars riding a roller coaster early in the season, but things seemed to have smoothed out as both teams won seven of their final 10 games to gain spots in the Sunrise Region tournament, which begins today.

"It means a lot," Liberty senior Ashante Ross said of making the postseason. "We started off kind of slow, so it feels good to get this accomplished and get in."

Liberty (16-12) plays at Valley (17-10), and Desert Pines (10-12) plays at Foothill (21-6). In the other two quarterfinals, Silverado (14-12) plays at Canyon Springs (22-3), and Chaparral (13-15) plays at Coronado (22-6). All games are scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Liberty lost three key players - Milos Knezevic, Kenneth Peters and Cameron Peters - from last season's Sunrise runner-up team.

That left huge shoes for the remaining players to fill, but the Patriots came together down the stretch, winning four of their past five games.

"It shows how far we've grown," said senior swingman Tim Rambo, the team's leading scorer. "It was kind of difficult getting everybody's personalities and styles of play to come together. But now that we have, we're playing a lot better than we were at the beginning."

Liberty coach Pat Welby said he hopes the team is making a move at the right time.

"We've got guys who are accepting and embracing their roles," Welby said. "It's starting to come together for us."

Things have been even tougher for Desert Pines this season. Not only did the Jaguars lose last season's leading scorer, Pierre Jackson, to graduation, but the player the team expected to lean on for leadership has been out with injuries.

"At first it was a big issue without Chris Perry being out there," Desert Pines coach Chancellor Davis said. "He was the one with the most experience. It took some guys awhile to understand their roles had to change. We've been playing very competitively lately."

The Jaguars were dismal early in the season without Perry, who has missed the season after surgery on his thumb and knee.

The team was 3-9 on Jan. 7 but has won five of its past six games to gain the Northeast League's final playoff berth on a tiebreaker.

"Instead of playing in the halfcourt, now we're pretty much putting a lot of pressure and speeding the game up, which is an advantage to us because we have guards," Davis said. "Playing in a halfcourt, that was an advantage to the bigger teams."

The Sunrise semifinals and final will be Thursday and Friday at Liberty.

Contact Prep Sports Editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587.